67 Restoration - not my first VW but it is my first Ghia

[will t]

Good morning all,

An update as to the progress of this Roulette Green 67:

I removed the doors, hood, deck lid, and all the glass

There were wasp nests here and there throughout the car

And then removed all the fasteners holding the body to the pan. I used an electric impact wrench and had no problems anywhere. However, I did prepare them all with PB Blaster beforehand. The forward top 17's

the forward bottom 17's

the rear 17's

and the side 13's

Rust awaits metal work but overall I don't believe it's too bad. We shall see what it looks like after it is media blasted though...

[will t]

I labeled the wiring as best I could prior to removing all of it

And continued stripping, this is the hardboard piece in back

I found behind it two "pillows" made of headliner material. Are these for sound?

I bought an arc welder (cool "tombstone 22V AC/DC on CL for very reasonable $) and made braces. I saw this idea on @Antoine's thread and it looks smart. Mind, I had never welded in my life. I made a few welds on a piece of scrap steel and then tried the square stock onto plate. Welding is harder than it looks!

[will t]

Then the rest of the insulation from the interior came out:

And I found the date of manufacture, I think:

I will keep and I hope re-use these materials:

And then off to the blast shop to get their work done

I ordered pans from Volkstory in Thailand. They are partially hand made and quite nice. Seemingly excellent quality steel and probably as thick or thicker than anything else out there. (Thanks for the suggestion @Peter D!)

[c21darrel]

Excellent start. That arc welder isnt going to be easy to do sheet metal repairs. You are going to need a mig w/ gas.
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GhiaBuild
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1967 DC build
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[Braukuche]

Those pans look much better than the Danish ones, how much were they shipped to the US if you don’t mind me asking. I need a set for my ‘62.
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[c21darrel]

[Braukuche]

[c21darrel]

$450 for the pair. Its roughly 1/2 the price of the danish repops. Someone else got them and including shipping was still reasonable ( i dont recall who, Im old too lol). Maybe someone else remembers or OP can add some light on shipping $$, total.
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GhiaBuild
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1967 DC build
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[Braukuche]

[will t]

@c21darrel i also bought a 220V mig that can do flux core and gas shielded, and I bought a tank of gas from a vendor nearby who sells the tank to you instead of leasing it. I am a beginner but I wanted to be able to do the plug and other welds I'll need for the pan and whatever else I am foolish enough to try. Also thank you for your encouragement!

@Braukuche the pans seem very good quality. According to the maker they are a combination of "mass" produced and hand-made. I got the impression that they make them to order only, as they require full payment up front, including shipping. And yes, it was very expensive. $928 delivered to Denver. So it was hundreds more by any measure but I think the car is a solid starting point and because I intend to take my time and I also look at the process as a learning experience (and also fun!), in the long run I don't think I will remember the additional cost.

[Peter D.]

Nice work! You're going to be very happy with those floors. I also found that piece of hardboard and those useless sound pillows under my backseat too. I've seen some restorations where the board is left off but it's actually needed to provide a solid place to glue the vinyl under the backseat.

I have a question about your brake lines... I'm doing a body swap from a 67 to a 64 chassis and I'm wondering how the lines from the brake fluid reservoir to the master cylinder are set up. Do you have a picture of that?
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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress

[will t]

Thank you @Peter D! I will replace the hardboard, and the pillows too, after I clean them. I'll try to the best of my ability to get everything back where it was.

This picture shows pretty well how the master cylinder is connected to the reservoir. The two lines are kind of under some stuff but still visible:

[Marcdeb]

[Peter D.]

[will t]

@marcdeb it will be interesting to see what the body looks like after it is blasted. Not sure when I'll get it back but it will likely be visible how they changed out that fender. Great observation. I never noticed it!

The sound board and carpets all came out very easily. I use a regular and a wide (plastic) putty knife to separate things like that, and I always try to be careful.

[will t]

The car is back from the media blasting shop. It wasn't inexpensive but it was thorough. I took a million pictures in an effort to thoroughly document the car, being that it looks now like I have to "go the distance" so to speak. I have never fully restored a car (or had one restored) so this is all new. Anyway I don't know what the protocol is on the site as far as posting too many pictures so if someone could let me know that it would be helpful. I hope these are of interest!

[will t]

[will t]

[c21darrel]

Almost impossible to post too many pics.
Looks like much of the damage was expected, judging from your original pics.
Overall pretty good condition for a ghia, typical rust and iffy repairs from the past. Whats next?
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1967 DC build
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[Peter D.]

Wow, making good progress.. Your inner rockers and doglegs look pretty good! The only source I found for correct early heater channels and doglegs is in France. They cost a ton so save these if you can. The later ones that are available from JBugs or whoever have a different curve and the heater outlet is moved back.

I think Gab Fab is making the correct battery tray for your year Ghia. Or he's going to be making soon.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2425729

Your rear quarters are bad (the lower part of the rear fenders where the bumpers bolt) but beware of one-size-fits-all repair panels because they won't be correct for a '67. You can use them as a starting point I guess. Someone put the wrong repair panel on only one side of my 64 so the body is lopsided.

In that picture under the steering column, I see your vent control is still bolted in place. I've removed a couple of these and each time I broke the stud off when I unbolted the acorn nut. So don't be a dope like me! Take your time, use penetrating blaster or heat it up (without melting the handles). If you bust the stud off you have take the whole thing apart and weld.
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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress